Selection Snapshots

A group known as The Do Good Dads Against Unjust Judges is challenging the retention of three local judges. The group takes issue with the judges’ rulings in cases involving child custody, adoptions, and child abuse, among others. The group is also pursuing legislative changes and better training for attorneys who handle custody cases.

Instead of launching his own campaign to fight back against the effort to remove him, Iowa Supreme Court Justice David Wiggins affirmed his belief that politicizing the courts leads to outcome-motivated judges who hold themselves accountable to donors and critics instead of the law. Similarly, while Florida State Supreme Court Justice Peggy Quince has launched a campaign to stay on the bench, doing so makes her “uncomfortable.”

The Utah Judicial Performance Evaluation Commission has published its evaluation reports and recommendations online. The Commission was created by statute in 2008 and undertook midterm evaluations in 2010 that were only for self-improvement purposes.

The U.S. Senate voted to approve, by an 89-1 vote, Stephanie Rose as a U.S. district court judge. To date, President Obama has appointed 72 women to the federal bench, which is the most ever appointed by a president in a single term. Rose is the first woman to serve on the Southern District of Iowa.

The establishment of a PAC for a supreme court race may undermine the public financing program and reintroduce partisanship in judicial races, according to the court of appeals judge who is challenging an incumbent justice. The legislature adopted public financing and nonpartisan ballots for appellate court elections in 2004.

According to a statewide poll, 47 percent of voters favor retaining the four justices standing for retention in November, while 24 percent oppose their retention and 25 percent are undecided. Poll results also show little residual anger over the supreme court’s 2009 decision recognizing a right to same-sex marriage, which resulted in the retention defeat of three justices in 2010.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit affirmed a lower court decision that rejected a constitutional challenge to the state’s merit selection system. Opponents of the process argued that having five lawyers on the nine-member supreme court nominating commission, who are not popularly elected or appointed by an elected official, violates the Equal Protection Clause’s “one person, one vote” requirement.

The founders of Justice Not Politics, a 501(c)(4) organization formed to defend three justices against retention challenges in 2010, have established a 527 organization called Justice Not Politics Action to support Justice David Wiggins’ retention.

From three finalists named by the judicial nominating commission, Governor Daniels appointed county court judge Loretta Rush to the supreme court. This appointment leaves only two states (Idaho and Iowa) without a woman on the highest court.

At its fall convention, the state Democratic Party nominated three women to run for supreme court seats in November. Two of the three candidates are challenging incumbent justices, while the third is running for an open seat.